Just wondering..I realise that I have to have the stone in the oven to be hot when the pizza goes in, but how do I get the uncooked pizza onto the stone? Do I put the rolled out crust on the pizza paddle thing and then assemble the pizza on that and then slide it off onto the hot stone that is in the oven?? I have no idea, please help??

It says to dust the surface of the stone with flour before placing inside the oven, otherwise the pizza will stick..?

Also, it says to 'preheat the stone' in a "moderately hot" oven 200C (or 400F), but I thought the oven needed to be hotter than that for a pizza. Surely the stone can handle a really hot oven??

Any advice on using this stone and the paddle thing would be much appreciated, I havent done this before, I have always used pans.

Do I put the rolled out crust on the pizza paddle thing and then assemble the pizza on that and then slide it off onto the hot stone that is in the oven?? I have no idea, please help??Thank you.

That would be the general idea Ninya but as a newbie myself I found it takes some practice to master this. I put fine semolina or flour on the peel "the pizza paddle thing" then the dough BUT give it a shake every now and then when putting the sauce and toppings on to prevent it sticking to the peel and making a mess when launching the pizza onto the stone. I used a piece of parchment paper for a while until I got better. Best of luck with your journey.

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Do I put the rolled out crust on the pizza paddle thing and then assemble the pizza on that and then slide it off onto the hot stone that is in the oven?? I have no idea, please help??

Basically, yes.

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It says to dust the surface of the stone with flour before placing inside the oven, otherwise the pizza will stick..?

Emphatically, yes... Put ample corn meal or semolina grits on the peel (flour would be a distant second choice because it absorbs moisture more rapidly so would turn to sticky glue much faster than corn meal or grits). Put you opened skin (preferably opened by hand, not rolled) on the peel and make sure it doesn't stick (wiggle the peel). Dress the pizza, checking every once in a while that it still doesn't stick, then launch it onto the hot stone once it is fully assembled.

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Also, it says to 'preheat the stone' in a "moderately hot" oven 200C (or 400F), but I thought the oven needed to be hotter than that for a pizza. Surely the stone can handle a really hot oven??

Yes, if it is an even somewhat decent pizza stone, it should be able to handle much higher temperatures than that. At 200 degrees C, you don't get pizza, you get a doughy flatbread. Or an overbaked flatbread (depending on baking time).

That would be the general idea Ninya but as a newbie myself I found it takes some practice to master this. I put fine semolina or flour on the peel "the pizza paddle thing" then the dough BUT give it a shake every now and then when putting the sauce and toppings on to prevent it sticking to the peel and making a mess when launching the pizza onto the stone. I used a piece of parchment paper for a while until I got better. Best of luck with your journey.

Emphatically, yes... Put ample corn meal or semolina grits on the peel (flour would be a distant second choice because it absorbs moisture more rapidly so would turn to sticky glue much faster than corn meal or grits). Put you opened skin (preferably opened by hand, not rolled) on the peel and make sure it doesn't stick (wiggle the peel). Dress the pizza, checking every once in a while that it still doesn't stick, then launch it onto the hot stone once it is fully assembled.

Yes, if it is an even somewhat decent pizza stone, it should be able to handle much higher temperatures than that. At 200 degrees C, you don't get pizza, you get a doughy flatbread. Or an overbaked flatbread (depending on baking time).

Ninya, one problem with putting flour on the peel prior to launching is that it will burn on a hot stone and subsequently the bottom of your pie will burn too. One of the best suggestions I received here in the last year was to get a perforated metal peel, they are somewhat expensive, but IMHO worth the cost, payed for many times over with every pizza I make. The benefit is that the flour will fall off the peel and the bottom of the pie through the holes prior to launching. Try looking at YouTube for videos about pizza peels and launching pies onto the stone. Also it may benefit you to read the glossary on this site to get familiar with the words we use.http://www.pizzamaking.com/pizza_glossary.html

I will have a look at the glossary later, and also some things on YouTube.

Just one more thing first...I will be using a rolling pin, as I prefer a thin crust. so, with a thin crust (that I would normally put on the bottom of a perforated pan), is it still 'easy' to transfer the pizza off the 'peel' and onto the stone that is in the oven? That is, with the topping on it or is this only something you can do with a thick, hand pressed 'skinned' pizza?

While you can certainly use a pin and roll it out, with practice, you can achieve a very thin crust by stretching it by hand. I would encourage you to work with stretching--there's something about getting your hands right in there that tells you so much about your dough and what changes you might like to make. But, I'm kind of weird there, I like to get right in the flour and have some fun. I can tell a lot about a dough by the way it opens up, without even looking at it--just my sense of touch, which is why I would encourage you to try stretching it by hand to a super thin crust. Best wishes!Diana